Globalization has become a current trend, making the world a global village (Farrell p. 23). This study will focus on the important elements of the United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea. Furthermore, it will analyze the similarities and the differences between the two countries in terms of demographics, social norms/values, the legal system, economics, government, military, the press, and the colonial history.
Demography refers to the aspect of the population of a specific society or country. It deals with statistics that involve a specific group of people. The UAE has a population of about nine million people (Berleur p. 67). There are several ethnic groups in the UAE, which include the Emirati, the South Asian people, the Iranian people, other Arabs, East Asians and other Westerners (UNESCO p. 98). The applicable languages in the UAE are Arabic, Persian, English, Hindi, and Urdu, although the official language is Arabic and the population is comprised of about 20% UAE citizens (UNESCO p. 76).
A higher percentage of the population lives in the two major cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Dubai has the highest population growth rate, between the years 2000 and 2005 the population growth rate was about 9% (Okazaki p. 65). The majority of the inhabitants are male, as in 2007 the population was comprised of about 3 million males and 1.6 million females (Berleur p.54). The infant mortality rate is also considerably higher for males this is because the population is male dominant.
The life expectancy for the males is about 73 years and about 78 years for the females (Farrell p. 95). The average life expectancy is about 76 years and the fertility rate is slightly above two children per woman (Reizer p. 79).
Papua New Guinea has a population of about 6.3 million people, the majority of the population lives in rural areas (Smith & Nigel p. 89). About 15% of the population resides in urban areas. The majority of the population is comprised of the youth, about 40% being individuals under the age of 15 years (Jones p. 43). The ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea are Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian and the Polynesian people (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p. 110).
There are three official languages which are Tok Pisin, English, and Hiri Motu. The life expectancy rate is about 62 years, the mortality rate for children under five years of age is about 7% and the maternal mortality rate is about 0.25% (Farrell p. 95). The HIV prevalence rate is about 0.9 %, around 87% of the inhabitants in the urban areas have access to clean water and about 33% of the rural population has access to clean water (Jones p. 64).
This section shall analyze the social norms/values in the United Arab Emirates. Approximately 95% of the UAE citizens are Muslims comprised of about 85% Sunni and about 15% Shia (Okazaki p. 88). The places of worship are constructed by the federal government and the individuals from the Islamic creed assist (Reizer p. 82). Also, the government has made efforts to safeguard women’s rights. Women have engaged in male-dominated fields like engineering and medicine and the proportion of females to males in the workforce has substantially increased (Daniell p. 97).
Analyzing the traditions explorations begun in UAE in about 5500 BC, the earliest inhabitants were skin herders who used stone in the construction of tools. They also practiced pastoralism and horticulture. There was the domestication of the camel in about 1300 BC this enabled improvement of transport (Go, Frank & Gover p. 71). Also, subsurface channels were discovered, they were used to transport water from aquifers to lower-lying gardens, and hence irrigation became possible (Berleur p. 34).
Papua New Guinea has several religious groups that include the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Church, Anglicans, Protestants and other indigenous beliefs (Jones p. 134). The women in Papua New Guinea experience a lot of challenges due to their low social status (Farrell p. 160). The life expectancy of women is generally lower compared to that of the men, the women strain due to lack of nutrition, excessive workloads, domestic violence, and poor health care services (Global Telehealth p. 98).
Women have been side-lined in public appointments since there is only one woman in the legislature and one woman in the judicial arm of the government (Smith & Nigel p. 95). Young men are initiated in their respective social cultures and taboos have to be adhered to when undergoing certain rituals (Reizer p. 112). Certain foods are prohibited especially during the seclusion period of the initiation of the young men into adulthood (Jones p. 85).
The United Arab Emirates’ legal system is comprised of several aspects such as the legislature, which has the responsibility to formulate the laws (Reizer p. 197). The Federal National Council (FNC) acts as the legislative body and has been empowered by the constitution to make laws and make any proposed amendments to the federal legislation (Daniell p. 64). The FNC is comprised of 40 members appointed by the emirates. Eight of the emirates are in Abu Dhabi and the other eight in Dubai (Okazaki p. 52).
The justice system in the UAE is constituted by various types of courts and the individual governments in each emirate determine the judicial appointments (Farrell p. 73). The constitution makes provision for sharia, which is the Islamic religious law and is also the main source of law in the UAE (Okazaki p. 61). The sharia courts deal with all kinds of crime, in cases where the submitted evidence is not enough to substantiate the case the penal code is applied (Reizer p. 124).
The legal system in Papua New Guinea is comprised of the constitution, the legislature, which is constituted by parliament and the judicial system (Farrell p. 86). Parliament is responsible for the formulation of laws and they make proposed amendments to the existing statutes (Smith & Nigel p. 95). The role of customary law in Papua New Guinea after attainment of independence has been very minor although there have been attempts to integrate customary law in the constitution to achieve a sense of national identity (Jones p. 83). The ultimate authority lies with the institutions concerned with the formulation of laws and law enforcement, these institutions are the national parliament, the judiciary and the legal fraternity (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p.71). The economy of the United Arab Emirates is the second-largest economy in the Middle East (Jones p. 191).
Ample oil reserves have enabled the UAE to have a very massive economic growth rate compared to other developing nations (Daniell p. 205). Despite the global economic crisis between the years 2000 and 2007, the gross domestic product of the UAE performed very well, the GDP average growth rate was 4.7% in this period (Reizer p. 182). The oil and gas industries are the major contributors to revenue for the UAE government (Farrell p. 250).
The UAE is over-dependent on oil and other sectors have not fully stabilized, changes in the prices of crude oil tend to be detrimental to the UAE economy (Okazaki p. 143). Dubai is the second largest emirate has diversified its economic activities by engaging in other activities such as tourism, telecommunications, media, financial services and real estate (Berleur p. 97). Measures have been put in place to privatize some government assets, provide incentives to foreign investors and local investors, avoid national income tax and sales tax and improvement of the service sectors especially tourism (Daniell p. 82).
Papua New Guinea is the largest developing country in the South Pacific region, the formal sector is dominated by projects which are large scale in nature (Smith & Nigel p. 92). The major sources of revenue are the mining and petroleum activities, hence they are the major contributors to the economy. The formal sector employs a very small proportion of the population, the bulk of the population is employed by the informal sector especially subsistence farming (Farrell p. 107).
The exports of Papua New Guinea are oil, gold, copper ore, logs, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, crayfish and prawns (Global Telehealth p. 205). The GDP growth rate was 5.4% in the year 2013, although inflation has adversely affected the economy. In 2009 the rate of inflation was about 7% this adversely affected the Papua New Guinea’s economy (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p. 137).
The United Arab Emirates government is a federal government that is comprised of seven emirates. All of the seven emirates have their self-governing mechanisms in place (Go, Frank & Gover p. 76). The powers not allocated to the federal government are the prerogative of the individual emirates (Berleur p. 97). Abu Dhabi is the politically predominant emirate, the reasons why this is the case is due to size, population, oil, gas wealth, portfolio of overseas assets and the large budget which exceeds the federal government’s budget (UNESCO p. 115). The Federal Supreme Council (FSC) is the highest federal authority in the UAE comprised of the seven emirate rulers who are tasked with electing the president and vice president after every five years (Berleur p. 112).
The president is the commander in chief of the Union Defence Force and the chairman of the FSC (Jones p. 185). The Federal National Council is the legislative authority present in the UAE and it is tasked with both legislative and supervisory roles (Jones p. 173). It is comprised of 40 members, and they ensure the equitable distribution of resources in the whole country (Okazaki p. 232). A council of ministers is also present, although the prime minister is the head. The president appoints the prime minister after consultations with the supreme council to have to be done before the prime minister’s appointment (Reizer p. 174).
The government system in Papua New Guinea is a federal constitutional monarchy. There are three branches of government which are the central government, the local government and the provincial government (Farrell p.230). The local government is stipulated in the constitution, there are 89 districts, but these are only administrative. Also, there are 20 provinces and about 320 local governments are both administrative and political (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p. 205).
The central government is comprised of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who is the head of state (Jones p. 307). She is represented by the governor-general who is allowed to serve a maximum of two terms in office. The governor-general is elected by the members of the house of assembly while the head of government is the Prime Minister (Smith & Nigel p. 214). The prime minister is appointed by the governor-general from the elected members of parliament. Also, the governor-general in consultations with the prime minister appoints a cabinet (Farrell p. 151).
This section shall analyze the military in the United Arab Emirates, the defines forces were combined in the year 1976 (Reizer p. 232). The constitution was amended to give the federal government rights to levy the armed forces and confiscate their weapons (UNESCO p. 125). In 1997 Dubai merged its’ armed forces with the defines forces of the federal government. The general headquarters is based in Abu Dhabi and the ruler of Abu Dhabi who is also the UAE president is the commander in chief of the armed forces (Daniell p. 143).
The UAE government has also engaged in projects that are aimed to improve the military wing of the country, in the past, the government has obtained funding from foreign countries especially the United States (Okazaki p. 262). The UAE military is comprised of an army, the navy, and the air force. The United States is the main ally of the UAE and is central to the defines policy that is implemented in the UAE (UNESCO p. 164). The United States signed a defines pact with the UAE after the Gulf War in 1991 (Go, Frank & Gover p. 145). This pact grants the United States the authority to set up its’ military bases and equipment in the UAE (Daniell p. 214).
The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) was established in the year 1973 (Jones p. 124). After independence the defense powers were transferred from Australia to Papua New Guinea, the post of Brigadier-General was established (Farrell p. 263). The main task attached to this post was commanding of the military forces. Australia has always been providing foreign assistance to the PNGDF through the defense cooperation program (Global Telehealth p. 241).
The PNGDF is comprised of the land operations element, the maritime operations element and the air operations element (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p. 182). The defense of Papua Guinea is allocated about 5% of the total national budget. Also, the defense collaborates with the United States, Australia and New Zealand (Farrell p. 16). The PNGDF headquarters is situated in Port Moresby at the Murray barracks (Smith & Nigel p. 45).
The United Arab Emirates has several daily newspapers that are published in the English language and other languages (Okazaki p. 125). Dubai Media City was created by the government in the year 2000, the media houses operating in this area are not subject to media laws formulated by the UAE (Berleur p. 208). This has made various local and international media houses prefer to operate in the DMC zone. Media houses operating out of the DMC zone are subjected to a law that restricts media freedom. This law was enacted in the year 1980 (Daniell p. 79).
This law has been used by the government to penalize media houses and in some cases, media houses have been shut down, especially those media houses which expose the government (UNESCO p. 125). The Federal National Council (FNC) has proposed amendments to this media law, the media houses are anticipating for improvement of the media laws, especially out of the DMC (Go, Frank & Gover p. 97). Also, other challenges are facing the media houses such as restrictions on content and speech, tedious governmental regulations on licensing procedures, registration, operation, and management of the media houses (Reizer p. 322).
The media industry in Papua New Guinea thrives in the urban areas this is because of the English speaking population (Global Telehealth p. 209). The telecommunications sector and launch of online media have been a massive influence in the media industry of Papua New Guinea enormously (Farrell p. 83). These modes of communication have facilitated the flow of information between the journalists, media practitioners and their specific audiences (Smith & Nigel p. 305).
Papua New Guinea has several statutes that regulate the media industry these include the Telecommunications Act 1996, the Broadcast Corporation Act 1973 and the Defamation Act 1962 (Jones p. 79). The provisions of the National Information Communication and Technology Act 2009 govern the broadcasting and information communication technology industries (Jones p. 235). The constitution guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of the press (Farrell p. 79).
The colonization period of the United Arab Emirates was occasioned by British nationals since Britain was the first European country to acquire UAE (Okazaki p. 235). These states were under British rule since the year 1892 and on the second day of December 1971, the United Arab Emirates attained independence (Berleur p. 92). The United Arab Emirates was formed by a group of tribally organized sheikhdoms (Reizer p. 205). In the year 1820, the British signed a treaty with the principal sheiks to end the slave trade, but this did not end the warfare which was being experienced in the coastal regions (Daniell p. 7).
The French, the Germans, and the Russians began to develop an interest in the Gulf region; this forced the British to sign a treaty with the sheiks binding them not to engage in discussions with any other foreign power (Go, Frank & Gover p. 183).
Papua New Guinea attained independence on September 16 in the year 1975 (Farrell p. 212). Portuguese and Spanish explorers had visited Papua New Guinea as early as the 16th century although their countries did not seize the opportunities to acquire the island (Jones p. 322). In the nineteenth century the Island gained fame among the European countries and later on the British acquired the southern part of the territory while the Germans acquired the Northern part (Smith & Nigel p. 172).
The Papua Act transferred the administration of the Island back to Australia. After world war, II the Papua New Guinea territory was formed, in 1975 the Australians left and the country formed its’ government (VanDuzer, Penelope & Graham p. 268). In UAE media freedom is limited to a specific zone while in Papua New Guinea media freedom is not limited to a specific zone (Reizer p. 39). The UAE is more economically stable while Papua New Guinea still has a long way to go to achieve a stable economic situation. In both countries, gender issues pose a major challenge, women in both countries are considered to be inferior to men (Jones p. 271). UAE has a federal government while Papua New Guinea has a federal constitutional monarchy (Daniell p. 143).
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